I just noticed a few of these little spots on my car, around the bottom. It won't come off, and I'm worried it's rust. Just a few weeks ago I took it down the great ocean road where it got very salty. I should've washed it immediately afterwards, but I gave it a good hose down instead and didn't properly wash it until now. Am I screwed?
Think you would have to experience prolonged salt air exposure to have serious rust, just one trip down great ocean road wont really do it. That bump spot on the stone guard looks suspect. On the actual door (if Im right) panel looks like a scuff or scratch marks, thats black?? road tar?? You will need to have a scratch down to the bare panel for it to rust more likey on the door panels. I've seen a youtube video of a rusty z32, where its rusted behind the stone guard just forward of the rear wheel arch.. apparently thats where the targa drainage tubes end and water can collect there. You should also check in your battery bay commonly battery acid leaks and its very rusty there. Also check under the boot door lip EDIT - far out large picture...
If its rust then its just surface rust which is not a big problem and can be easily repaired. You only need to start sweating if you see the paint forming bubbles as that is full thickness rust bursting through the paint. I had some full thickness rust in the hatch (caused by the OEM wing rusting) which cost $500 to get cut out and hatch resrayed, and it was a lot bigger than what you have shown so it shouldnt cost too much to get that fixed. On a side note, Ive been spraying lanoline into the doors, frame etc for years (not the hatch though as Ive never had a reason to take the interior panels off). Basically anytime I have access to an area (such as when removing the headlights to clean them) I give the area a good layer of lanoline to keep the rust at bay.
My bad, I sort of assumed the forum would resize it for me. I thought longer exposure would be required as well, then I noticed a few of these spots just two weeks after going down there. Pretty sure it's not tar, but good to know it's probably not deep rust either. There's targa drainage tubes? I always assumed that if there was some sort of drainage, it was leading straight into the cabin. Where do you mean, under the boot door lip? You mean just around the corner from the rear light cluster, the painted area that the boot lid closes onto? I do have some rust, mainly on the black bar just forward of the top of the boot lid hinge. I got a quote of $1000 to fix a small dent on the driver's side door, due to the respraying of expensive paint. I don't know if you had cheaper paint than me (OEM creamy-white metallic), but I'm awfully scared of any form of respraying. When you say the OEM wing was rusting, what do you mean? I've got a '90 model, which means the subtle sort of boot-lid spoiler (as opposed to the post-'94-ish pedestal spoiler). It's developed some holes on it. I wouldn't say it's rust, but I don't know what it is.
No it was $500 for the rust cut and respray hatch in OEM colour (pearl white), though I had just got some insurance work done so maybe he was already happy with the amount of money he had gotten through me. The original wing is made of foam and once it has aged can crack and start absorbing water, which in turn starts rusting the mounting bolts which spreads the rust into the hatch. Give you wing a squeeze with your fingers, if it is squishy its an original wing, and if there are funny marks forming in the paint at top at the corners, its the bolts rusting which means its time to pull the wing and assess the damage.
If it is rust, those spots would have been developing overtime not within 2 weeks. 300zx's do have some rust protection, dipped in black zinc coating. Unlesss you have a past dodgy repair in that area done by a previous owner? Video if your interested.... 300zx z32 Rust Accessment youtube video I was quoted $200 to respray my door thats gunmetal metallic. maybe shop around...
the black stuff on your panel is tar ,,white spirits will remove that,the rough is called stone guard ,and the little gray mark looks like a stone chip ,just get some touch up paint and a small paint brush and put a dot of white there its all good
It's an original wing. What do you mean....funny marks? There are some sort of bubbles on the top of it. It's not black and doesn't look like tar, it's brown.
Tar + dust/dirt can = brown Try some elbow grease and a gppd quality cut polish to see what comes off.
If the top surface of the wing is not smooth (ie has lumps in it), its swelling up with water and if there are bubbles it means that the fasteners in the wing are rusting and its time to organise for the wing to be removed and any damage underneath seen to.
I have been told they do actually salt the roads in Japan when it snows, although I have no confirmation on this and imported Zeds are prone to rust.
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in the 1st quote,u never mentioned your wing ,,in the photo that black/brown line of stuff is tar remove it with white spirits,,if its not tar its a crack then its full of bog,???hiding rust
Great. Should I go to a panel beater's? It doesn't seem to be a crack, I believe it's on top of the paint. I'm not sure though. I'll have a go at it with my polish. BUT HOW?!
Try a clay bar... It doesn't look like rust to me, more like some kind of surface contaminant (grease, tar, sap, roadgrime, you name it...)
By taking it to a Panel Beater/Spray Painter and asking for an expert opinion(that is AFTER you try to polish it out, unsuccessfully).
